I am looking back through the past 24 yrs and wondering how the whole
celebration of Deepavali has changed for me:
1986: I woke up very early in the morning (was doing my masters then),
wore new clothes etc., called my parents and was so excited when one
of my friends called me at 5 am!
1990: still continued to wear new clothes, celebrated Deepavali mainly
with a get together at the University.
1992-93: New clothes? Whatever! I had to work. Still wished everyone I
knew a very happy deepavali.
1994: My parents called it my "Thalai Deepavali" (only south Indians
can understand this term), that basically means it was my first
deepavali after being married. Basically woke up early in the morning,
went to work and wished all the desis a very Happy Deepavali. Still
missed home and hoped to be there for Diwali sometime.
1998: My daughter was born, to me it was her first Deepavali. My mom
and MIL were both with me. Moreover, I was on FMLA - that means I
wasn't working. Went through the whole routine of Deepavali (except
fire crackers) with lots of sweets, new clothes, even the early
morning oil bath. Even promised my mother that both of us would take
the day off every year, just so that our kiddo would know our heritage
and what not.
1999: My mom was still around. She missed India and Deepavali there.
We celebrated mainly to make her happy.
2000: We had moved to Austin. We had already broken our promise to
take the day off. After all, we needed the days off for vacation
trips, for daughter's sick days, plus both of us had new jobs and no
days of vacation available.
2001-2010: Diwali has mainly meant a call home, sometimes a trip to
the temple, some times a trip to another temple where they do Garba
and have fireworks that weekend. Other times doing Lakshmi pooja at
Chinmaya Mission on the corresponding Sunday. Recently, everything
depends upon how much homework our daughter has. This year I have
started teaching in Chinmaya mission. That means I am telling kids
other than my own about the significance of the festival, even collect
canned food to distribute to the homeless. But somewhere in the back
of my own mind, I feel the shift. A shift that tells me, that may be
Halloween is close enough to Diwali, so why not celebrate Halloween
instead. I do celebrate Halloween, decorate the front yard with skulls
and ghost like figures, give candies to all kids that come home. But
is it the same? Other times I think I should celebrate Deepavali on
Dec 25, since I cannot relate to Christmas, except that it is a
holiday. I do celebrate Christmas too, I keep a tree, buy some gifts
and even travel to new places around that time, since we get the week
off.
Sorry to leave everyone confused by my recap of how the festival has
changed for me, or in other words how I have aged.
